ANH Temp Track

[jsawruk 0]

Does anyone know specifically what was on the ANH temp track? Is there official documentation of this somewhere?

If you respond with the temp track list itself, please provide documentation of the source.

Thanks

[Morn 7]

The liner notes of the CD say.

Holst, Dvorak, Walton, Rozsa's Ben Hur and others.

Gives no more detail.

30 pages just isn't enough for that score.

[jsawruk 0]

I have those liner notes, and I guess it is better than nothing. I think I will write JW myself for answers to this and other questions he could only answer.

[JoeinAR 1,892]

Don't forget to tell him he is slightly overrated. I am sure it will hasten his replies to you.

Just kidding.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,256]

Herrmann was also used, remember the 3 note lift from Psycho.

Stefancos-

[Morn 7]

How do we know that was in the temp track? It's an appropriate place to make quotation.

[Marian Schedenig 6,466]

I think it's very likely that Stravinsky's Sacre du printemps was used as well, it's clearly referenced in the Tattooine desert and the Jawa music.

Nino Rota film music compilation

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,256]

How do we know that was in the temp track? It's an appropriate place to make quotation.  

Didn't Ken Wannberg include it at some point during the production.

[Luke Skywalker 1,505]

What is the temp track?!

Darth Luke, Puzzled

[Trumpeteer 271]

It's music that a film's director or editor typically puts on the soundtrack while creating rough edits, to find the film's pace and such. Usually, this temp track will be made of the contracted composer's music or other music that the director hopes the composer can emulate.

The composer, if I am correct, rarely hears the film with the temp track, unless the director really wants to make sure the composer knows what the musical point is.

[jsawruk 0]

I know all the references to which you refer, and agree with most of them. But just because it sounds like Le Sacre, does that mean Le Sacre was used? What if Beethoven was used, yet no reference exists in the score? Hence my reason for wanting to know officially what was on it.

[Dole 11]

Actually, if I remember correctly, Williams mentioned in that French magazine interview a couple of years ago that the Jawa scenes were tracked with Ravel's "Bolero" which Williams seemed to have found kind of funny. He then scored the Jawa scenes with what would later become the March of the Villains from Superman (Lucas said it was too bouncy and cutesy and asked him to rescore it).

Dole

[AHerrera83 0]

On the Psycho Collector's DVD, editor Paul Hirsch comments that while editing SW, he used:

Stravinsky's "Rites of Spring"

Dvorak's "New World Symphony" and

Holst's "The Planets"

among many other classical pieces, so at least we have confirmation on these three from the actual editor.

Regarding Herrmann's 3-note motif, he says that he also used it in the temp track originally. He later, very carefully, says that since Williams was a friend of Herrmann's, he used the 3-note motif as a homage in the cue he composed for that same scene, leaving it open for interpretation as to whether Williams heard the temp track and decided to keep the motif, or if it could've been a coincidence. I think it showed a lot of class of him to handle it that way.

[charlesk 0]

I clearly remember only that the temp track for the last battle was indeed Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", which is very similar to the music Williams did (this is the least melodic track). But Williams version is less "acid" that Stravinsky's I heard nothing about the rest.

[King Mark 3,220]

The Planets(bits of Mars) made a small intro slamming into the Star Wars main theme in the THX release of the original edition VHS copies for a montage "trailer" of the trilogy.

K.M.

[Morn 7]

It's music that a film's director or editor typically puts on the soundtrack while creating rough edits, to find the film's pace and such. Usually, this temp track will be made of the contracted composer's music or other music that the director hopes the composer can emulate.

The composer, if I am correct, rarely hears the film with the temp track, unless the director really wants to make sure the composer knows what the musical point is.

If that's true, then how come Williams sounded experienced with temp tracks in some interviews. Describing what sort of music they have and their advantages and disadvantages.

The Planets(bits of Mars) made a small intro slamming into the Star Wars main theme in the THX release of the original edition VHS copies for a montage "trailer" of the trilogy.

Hehe, what bit of Mars?

Stravinsky's "Rites of Spring"  

Dvorak's "New World Symphony" and  

Holst's "The Planets"

Not surprising I can hear each of those in the score, Rite of Spring like desert music and the throne room has the force theme orchestrated like New World Symphony.

[enderdrag64 373]

On 24/10/2002 at 9:14 PM, Dole said:

Actually, if I remember correctly, Williams mentioned in that French magazine interview a couple of years ago that the Jawa scenes were tracked with Ravel's "Bolero" which Williams seemed to have found kind of funny. He then scored the Jawa scenes with what would later become the March of the Villains from Superman (Lucas said it was too bouncy and cutesy and asked him to rescore it).

Dole

Sorry to revive a beyond ancient thread but does anyone have a source for this interview? I was trying to look it up and couldn't find anything

[enderdrag64 373]

5 hours ago, enderdrag64 said:

Sorry to revive a beyond ancient thread but does anyone have a source for this interview? I was trying to look it up and couldn't find anything

Update: I appear to have found a transcript of it I think, but I'd still like to know where it came from. Unfortunately the post doesn't mention the name of the magazine or link to anything

https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?forumID=1&pageID=2&threadID=2328&archive=1

[TownerFan 4,976]

4 hours ago, enderdrag64 said:

Update: I appear to have found a transcript of it I think, but I'd still like to know where it came from. Unfortunately the post doesn't mention the name of the magazine or link to anything

https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?forumID=1&pageID=2&threadID=2328&archive=1

 

The interview you refer to (published in 1999 by French magazine Starfix) has been notoriously signaled as being at least partly made up, so I suggest not taking it too literally.

 

If you're interested in actual historical accuracy about the temp tracking of the first Star Wars film, check out Paul Hirsch's book A Long Time Ago In A Cutting Room Far, Far Away, where there is an entire chapter devoted to the editing of the film and lots of details about the temp track.

[Jim Ware 467]

1 hour ago, TownerFan said:

If you're interested in actual historical accuracy about the temp tracking of the first Star Wars film, check out Paul Hirsch's book A Long Time Ago In A Cutting Room Far, Far Away, where there is an entire chapter devoted to the editing of the film and lots of details about the temp track.

I second the book recommendation! There are lots of other film music and composer anecdotes in there too.

[crocodile 7,060]

Thanks guys, looks like an interesting read. I shall investigate.

 

Karol

[Ludwig 1,050]

So this is interesting. In the "cutting room floor" book cited above, Hirsch says "Ben [Burtt] also came up with Erich Korngold's Oscar-winning theme from the 1938 Robin Hood to play under the crawl at the beginning of the movie. George [Lucas] had experimented with something from Kurosawa, but we all ganged up on him and got him to change it. It was just too bizarre and didn't capture the heroic spirit."

 

But in Rinzler's The Making of Star Wars, Hirsch is quoted as saying "we used music from Ivanhoe by Rózsa for the main title."

 

This is the same person saying they used two different pieces for the main title! It's pretty clear that the Rózsa is essentially the model for the Star Wars main title. Maybe Robin Hood was used at one point then changed out for Ivanhoe, but if so, there isn't really any trace left of it. Sounds like he's probably misremembering in the newer "cutting room floor" book (2020), the Rinzler being from 2007.